HOW TO: NOT LET YOURSELF GO WHILE YOU’RE BUSY LOSING YOURSELF

Heard of the holiday bulge? I know I sure have, and to be honest when I’m venturing off for a mere two weeks, eh, who cares, I’m on holiday! But for the serious travellers out there, that gap year can leave a little less gap in those jeans amiright?! So, here are some handy tips on how to incorporate your at home routine into your travel routine WITHOUT losing out on serious travel-time and still being able to switch-off into vacay mode!

1. Eating Habits.

Here’s a secret I will let you in on, if you ate out, morning, midday and evening in your home country, you would probably put on weight too, so unfortunately being in a different country doesn’t change that! Experiencing the cultures are sooooo important and valid, but life, in every situation, is about balance! Here are my top 3 eating travel tips:

1. Find a local supermarket and buy a few healthy sandwich/salad options, you’ll find this beneficial in several ways, for one, it’s a lot cheaper then eating out, you’re basically providing yourself at least three lunches for the price of one, depending on what you are eating it can often be much healthier for you and it is also a great time saver, want to do three different attractions in the one day? You still gotta eat right? Sandwich. Backpack. Eat. Walk. Boom!

2. I’m a huge fan of nutrional shakes, sometimes as a meal replacement, sometimes as a quick go-to when I’m on the go and sometimes just to make sure my body is still getting all the vitamins and nutrients it needs while I’m enjoying my homes away from home. My preferred brand is Herbalife, just one tub contains enough for a shake a day for six weeks and costs usually around $70 retail that’s $1.66 per day for your nutrition, not bad, and again, a great money and time saver!

3. Split! No, don’t do a runner, split your portions, put half of your delicious Italian pasta from actual Italy into a takeaway bag and voila, dinner for two nights worth without your tummy getting quite happily accustomed to bulk eating! On this same note, if you’ve noticed you have been eating a little towards the naughty side try to incorporate at least one healthy dish for one of your main meals a day to ensure that balance!

2. Exercise.

Don’t roll your eyes. I’ll make this fun, I promise! The good news is, when your walking through cities, hiking up mountains, dancing your nights away and hiring bikes around town, you are generally exercising! A lot! Yaaaaay! The even better news is, you can do just a mere 20-28 minutes in your hotel, hostel, nearby beach, outdoor park or wherever your make-shift-gym may be at the time, before you even start your day with an at home DIY body challenges, there’s a few on the market but I have included below one of my fav personal trainers who is personally tried and trusted. It’s honestly over before you know it and I always personally find my energy levels through the roof after a short 30minute workout, and hey, you need that energy for all the adventuring you’re doing! Other then memories being the best thing about travelling, the other best thing is the photos that keep those memories, and you want to look great in them!

What you can expect: Use this for well-rounded strength training, body contouring and cardio routines! It will require discipline but it also WILL get you a-mazing results for no more then 30minutes a day! EVER! Just checkout her website for all of her amazing reviews, before and after photos and customer stories. It’s perfect for all those stubborn areas and improving all-around strength, fitness and energy levels!

Workouts I love that are sure to keep you in great travelling condition!

3. Yoga/Meditation.

It’s like exercise, but more for your mind. Travelling is amazing! But, it can sometimes leave you out of sorts, especially when you are on the road for a long time. I love Yoga and Meditation although am fairly a beginner, but hey, that’s all you need, it’s just a little something for you to keep that balance. Something as simple as a morning Sun Salutation or just 10minutes of breathing can be like that little routine you have from home that comes everywhere with you, so you’re never too far from your “normal” and a great way to keep balanced while you’re doing something completely different, on a different day, in a different city! Before you start thinking you need to be a certified “yogi” to be able to start doing yoga let me, as well as this lovely lady, reassure you that you don’t! Meet Sjana Earp, self-taught yoga lover and striving to better herself and her limits each day with just a little bit of the good stuff! Great for if you start to feel homesick or just need to regroup yourself and set your Aura back on track!

So, I don’t know how much advice I can truly give on this as I rarely ever wear make-up or put a whole lot of effort into my hair all the time, but then again, if you’re travelling you probably don’t really have the time too either? So then I guess I’m the PERFECT person to be giving you this advice on tips for minimal effort haha! Well, some great time savers for me for Make-Up would be these 3 products:

1. BB Cream – it’s you’re everything in one, foundation, SPF, moisturiser, toner and gives your skin that nice glow! It’s a much quicker application then foundation and much healthier for every day use, looks like foundation, acts like a skin protector!

2. Lippy! – I’m a sucker for a Mac Lippy, they have so much staying power and fun, flirty bright shades to make it look like you have put in some effort, using a nice shade that either matches a detailing on your outfit can make all the difference without being too over-done for even a beach day trip!

3. Mascara – and waterproof! I know a lot of my girlfriends don’t like waterproof, but that’s more because you’re not using the right cleanser to remove it at the end of the day, you really do need a nice moisturising eye-make-up remover for waterproof, but it’s well worth it, you can swim in the beach, enjoy dancing in the rain, not have to re-apply from dawn til dusk AND avoid that panda-eye look in all of your travel photos – no mess, no stress!

For my wild, crazy, beach curly hair I will only ever do two things while travelling: Straighten…or au naturel! But, it depends on the destination rather then the occasion for me.

Natural Curls: If I’m travelling in a tropical place where I’m most likely going to be getting wet a lot of the time or in dense areas, then there’s really no point in me straightening my hair every day PLUS it goes with the vibe of where I’m at, just a little curl-enhancing spritzer and that hibiscus flower from outside my hotel room and I’m good to go! Easy as!

Straight: Well this is pretty straight-forward! Get it? Straight-forward! Ha! Crack myself up! Anyway, you know how to straighten your hair so I won’t get into that but some great tips for travelling are 1.) straightening the night before, not only does this save time but you also get that tousled straight look rather then dead-straight so it looks nice without looking like you’re dolling up every travel day. 2.) Accessorise! A hat can be the perfect saviour for those fly-aways on day-two of your straight hair even a headband or if we’re going overboard-tourist in Paris, even so much as a Beret! 3.) Blow-dry kinda straight. It’s straight but there’s still that Tom Ford circa 80’s woman wave and you have to dry your hair after the shower anyway, grab that paddle brush and it’s a 2-in-1 job! I’ll always apply a little bit of serum after straightening just to give it that nice glossy-finish and also hold it in place for a few days, voila!

5. Skincare.

If there’s one thing to hold on to on your travels, it’s your skincare routine. And here’s why: You’re travelling in different areas with different climates, eating different food, sleeping on different pillows and staying out or getting up outside of your normal routine. Basically you’re having an absolute blast, and your skin really, really wants to join that party too! So here are my tips for skincare everywhere you go:

2. Use your normal products – if you have a set product that works great with your skin type/acne/moisturizer etc then stick with it! A LOT of different countries will have added ingredients in their products even if it’s the same product like back home, for example, a lot of skincare products in Japan contain bleach which is why they have such clear, milky-white complexions, but maybe you want to be bleach-free, so it’s usually a good idea to not freak your skin out with ingredients it’s not used to.

3. Slip, Slop, Slap – always. I love Vitamin D just as much as the next guy but I know that sun of ours can be a shape-shifter in different areas so I always put on sunscreen wherever in the world I am, it saves sun damage, it saves added freckles and it saves my photos looking like I’m a tomato with teeth! As I said earlier in my make-up section BB cream has an SPF already, usually about 15+, I would use that for day-to-day use, but for beach trips and heavy sun activities definitely opt for a higher protection amount.

4. Scrub it out – wherever you are travelling, it may be common, especially travelling in your twenties for a bit of break out as your skin adjusts to the areas, I know whenever I go back to L.A. after being in Australia my skin has to get used to the polluted air all over again and it breaks out, not crazy acne, just those little tiny “I’m not used to this air” bumps on my forehead etc and I usually use a nice sea-salt scrub that’s compact for my travelling as a gentle exfoliant to help calm it down, as I said, use your normal products, but definitely think of your scrub as a must-pack when making your packing list

6. Laundry.

Most wise people will only pack their essentials, unlike myself who has gradually had to learn this the hard-way after paying way too much excess baggage and hardly wearing half of it, but if you are a savvy packer and you did pack JUST the essentials, well, those essentials have probably got a distinct smell to them right about now and need some TLC!

Most places you are staying will have laundry facilities, however, I would opt for some that you KNOW aren’t going to write off half your wardrobe, if need be, it may be worth a trip to the local laundromat rather then your hostel facilities, if you are staying in a hotel most will provide everything you need for washing but if you’re finding there’s no powder/detergent etc it may be worth your while investing in some travel detergent, they are specially designed in smaller 100ml bottles to adhere to the aircraft restrictions and all you need is a few drops per wash so can be quite cost-efficient too, a lot of places in your home countries will sell them but for Australia I use www.traveluniverse.com.au for all those little handy bits and pieces to keep me smelling fresh as a daisy! Alternatively you can jump on Amazon once you know the product description and bag yourself a little bargain!

7. Water.

Stay hydrated but also stay HEALTHY! A few countries you will need to specifically drink from bottled-water only. Even though the locals drink from the tap all the time, their bodies have built up enough anti-bodies to be immune to any bugs and bacteria whereas yours may not, it’s important to drink lots of water so you can feel energised and able to keep up without getting dehydrated from all of the running around or exploring but also really important to stay healthy in your chosen destination, you don’t want to travel to an amazing place to only see the insides of your hotel room because you got sick!

8. Sleep.

Last but certainly not the least, get your sleep! It doesn’t have to be crazy partying all the time travelling and it also doesn’t have to be go go go all the time exploring, find a healthy balance so you can do both, easily, without feeling so run down at the end of your holiday that you need ANOTHER holiday, just to recover! If you’re going out for a wild night, maybe it’s a relaxing pool day the next day, if you are going on an exciting all-day-tour, maybe finish it off with a nice evening dinner to wind down rather then hitting it hard and exhausting yourself.

In terms of Jet-Lag, aka my arch nemesis, I feel I have really found my way to win once and for all.

I will do my research on the country I am going to and the time zones, if I am flying out at 11:00am but I land 6:00am their time the next day and basically lose a whole day, and then have to last another full day to be on the right time zone to avoid being stuck in a cycle, I will calculate when it would be 10:00pm their time and maybe take a sleeping pill on the plane, if I’m not feeling tired, to force myself to get in that 8 hours and that way I’m already waking up on their time and can last the whole day without feeling like a zombie! Natalie: 1 Jet-Lag:0

I hope these travel tips have been helpful and you can enjoy looking like you, when you’re discovering just who you are, in this wide world of travels!

About Me

Hiya, my name is Natalie-Monique Le Sueur and I travel with my best mate and partner, RJ Cantu!
I created MyTravelation to share the revelation of travelling and inspire people around the world. I LOVE travelling and I LOVE writing and I hope you LOVE my creation of the two. They say we travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us. So come see through my eyes and live with me!